Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Clark Kent

ClarkKent is a fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, he debuted in Action
Comics #1 (June 1938) and serves as the civilian and secret identity of the
superhero Superman.

Through the popularity of his Superman alter ego, the personality, concept, and name of Clark Kent have become ingrained in popular culture as well, becoming synonymous with secret identities and innocuous fronts for ulterior motives and activities.

In 1992, Superman co-creator Joe Shuster told the Toronto Star that
the name derived from 1930's cinematic leading men Clark Gable and Kent Taylor,
but the persona from bespectacled silent film comic Harold Lloyd and himself.

Clark's middle
name is given variously as either Joseph or Jerome, the latter in allusion to
creator Jerry Siegel.

In the earliest
Superman comics, Clark Kent's primary purpose was to fulfill the perceived
dramatic requirement that a costumed superhero cannot remain on full duty all
the time. Clark thus acted as little more than a front for Superman's
activities. Although his name and history were taken from his early life with
his adoptive Earth parents, everything about Clark was staged for the benefit
of his alternate identity: as a reporter for the Daily Planet, he receives
late-breaking news before the general public, has a plausible reason to be
present at crime scenes, and need not strictly account for his whereabouts as
long as he makes his story deadlines. He sees his job as a journalist as an
extension of his Superman responsibilities; bringing truth to the forefront and
fighting for the little man. To deflect
suspicion that he is Superman, Clark Kent adopted a largely passive and
introverted personality with conservative mannerisms, a higher-pitched voice,
and a slight slouch.